Chapter: 7

The Trials of the Temple

Jak turned the Sand Shark into a sliding stop outside an ancient, sandstone building in the desert. He pulled the goggles off of his eyes and slipped his kerchief down to its place around his neck as he regarded the building. The sand puffed up as his thick boots collided with the powdered ground. Daxter looked around the antechamber nervously once Jak had entered the temple, his eyes alighting on graphic carvings of men being attacked by Metalheads.

"I got a bad feeling about this, Jak," he shuddered. Jak smirked at his furry friend obnoxiously.

"Come on Dax, where's your sense of adventure?" he chuckled.

"I think I left it back in the car, let's go back and get it." Jak chuckled and continued walking further into the temple. Once they were deep enough, the two friends could see a familiar symbol, looking somewhat like the Taoist Yin and Yang symbol.

"Well-well, looks like I was here as well," he chuckled, pulling out a pendant on a chain with the same symbol as the door from under his shirt. He dangled the symbol in front of the door, upon which a beam of light shot out of it and into the door, making the door open. Jak placed the pendant back under his shirt, slung his Eco Rifle off his back and walked forward into the hallway.

A flight of stairs led down deep into the earth, the end indistinguishable because of the sheer distance. Jak took a step down one stair, almost tripping because he had underestimated exactly how steep each step was.

"This is gonna be a nightmare coming back up, glad I don't have to do it," he smiled, his sense of humor evidently returned once the creepy hieroglyphs were not visible. Jak scowled, and began walking down the stairs slowly. Suddenly, flying bat-like Metalheads came out of cracks in the wall and started swooping at Jak and Daxter. Jak fired a yellow blast at one, successfully killing it and enraging the others. He delivered a punch to another as it swooped at him with sharp talons and swept away its remaining companions by using his gun like a club. The dead Metalheads splayed across the floor in awkward positions; Jak stepped forward and continued his descent into the temple with his gun held at the ready for more Metalheads. More did come, from the tiny little bat-like ones to ape-like creatures larger than Jak was. Of course, Jak defeated them all but not without injury. His left arm was badly scratched as were his legs and torso. He finally came to a flat space after almost an hour of walking/fighting down the stairs. It was a large room like the antechamber only with a higher ceiling and it was circular. Platforms stuck from the sides of the room at different intervals, creating a sort of far-spaced stairway climbing up to the ceiling. Near the ceiling was a large doorway leading further inside the temple, it was clear that Jak's jumping skills were needed now. Jak easily leapt onto the first platform, grabbed a horizontal pole halfway between it and the next, swung around a couple times, and leapt to the second. The next few were easily accessed by jumping, and a Yellow Eco vent near the end of the next allowed him to fly up to a higher placed one. The last few platforms were reached through a series of pole jumps until he reached the highest platform suspended in the center of the room. In the middle was a huge, circular platform of Precursor metal. The lighting symbol in the middle hailed something Jak hadn't seen in a long time.

"A Blue Eco Jump platform," he said in wonder. Jak stepped onto the platform, charging as much Blue Eco as he could. It started to glow, spikes of light cutting into the air around Jak. He crouched and then let off a huge leap that sent him straight to a platform right outside the doorway. It was a long slide going down to somewhere, Jak wasn't sure. He leapt on and slid in a crouching position, dodging the Dark Eco along the way.

At the bottom of the slide was a spherical room full of dancing lights. A domed ceiling reflected the white and purple lights given off by two pools of liquid. The floor was a huge representation of the symbol of the House of Mar, with pools of Light and Dark Eco in the tear drop shaped sides and a walkway curving between the pools. The two circles in the large end of each tear drop were columns that twisted towards a space in the center where a platform was. A circular platform in the center of the floor proved to be an elevator once Jak stepped on it and carried him up to the platform. Above him on the platform was the key, floating in a cloud of mixed Dark and Light Eco. Jak grabbed it like he would often do with Power Cells in his first adventure while Daxter did his familiar dance. Once the key was no longer attracting the Eco Energy, twin beams of Light and Dark sailed to the circles in a Mar Symbol above the door, effectively opening the door and allowing an elevator to become visible. Jak and Daxter were about to enter the elevator when something came in their way, dropping down the shaft onto the elevator. A blur of yellow and red snatched the key from Jak and sped back to the elevator, revealed at last to be Cortex on his Rocket Board.

"Ha-ha!" he exclaimed gleefully. "You will never get the Eco Staff, Jak; we villains will be victorious!" Cortex could easily dodge the bullets Jak tried to fire at him so instead; Jak pointed the gun up at the rope holding the elevator up and shot it. The elevator fell with a crash onto a bar just after Cortex had managed to fly out. He shook his fist at Jak, and then flew through the cavern along the rail. Jak took his Jet Board from his back and used it to slide along the rail. It only took Jak a moment to realize that Cortex's Rocket Board could only float a certain distance above the ground and so he needed to stay above the rail or fall into the depths below. Jak couldn't shoot Cortex, he needed to use his arms for balance, but he could still catch up to him and grab the key. Once Jak was only a few feet from Cortex, he turned to Daxter and shouted to him.

"Dax, get that key!" Daxter mock saluted him and leapt onto the tail of Cortex's board, crawling forward and leaping onto his head. Cortex only just registered that Daxter was on his head before the small Ottsel grabbed at the key.

"Let go, that's mine!" he shouted, tugging the key away from the Ottsel. It worked but as he wrenched it away, he lost his balance. As Cortex fell off his board and attempted to grab on again, he let go of the key and Daxter grabbed it. He cackled teasingly and leapt back onto the Jak, sticking his tongue out at Cortex as the man just managed to scramble back onto his board.

"Sorry Fat-head, ya snooze ya lose!" he cackled, giving Jak a high-five on the other side of the room.

"Darn you, we will still win though, you have no idea what's in store!" he swore as he pressed a button on his wrist and transported away without his board.

"That ain't what your fat mama said!" Daxter shouted to thin air.

"Come on," he said, faintly amused. "We have to find a way out of here." He proceeded down the short passageway beyond where their fight with Cortex had taken place until they reached a dead end. Jak inspected the walls and saw that the furthest one had cracks in it. He used his Red Eco Amplifier power to blast the wall apart, causing a cascade of sand to fall and reveal dazzling sunlight. Shielding his eyes, Jak proceeded forward and found himself in the desert, not too far from the Sand Shark.

"That's convenient," he smirked. Jak laughed with him as he climbed into the car and drove back to Spargus.

Author's Note: Last two chapters of Act I come up after you guys review; Geek out.